Forget India, Outsource to Arkansas

With a national unemployment rate approaching 10 percent, relatively high for the US, biotech and IT technology firms eye low-cost labor rural communities in states like Arkansas, Missouri and Minnesota. Dubbed “rural outsourcing” by this CNN Money article, the work entails providing IT support or customizing software code. “For some companies, the thought of outsourcing work to countries with different laws and business practices feels risky,” notes Jennifer Alsever. Labor costs in rural US average about 15 percent higher than those in India, where the unemployment rate also hovers around 10 percent. Yet sending work to small US towns reduces employer concerns about time differences, communication difficulties, leaked proprietary material or any political backlash over sending work overseas. – YaleGlobal